Santee community members upset over delayed post office renovation

SANTEE (KUSI) — Several members in the Santee community voiced their concerns over the United States Postal Service in their neighborhood because they said it’s falling apart.

“I thought you’re going to get killed mailing a letter,” said Richard Beach, a former teacher in Santee.

“It doesn’t have a lot of class,” said Frank Sturniolo, a member in the Santee community. “That’s for sure.”

“I think it looks horrible,” said Joyce Green, a member in the Santee community. “They’re not finished with it yet.”

There’s plywood nailed to the outside of the building and caution tape on the windows. According to some folks, it’s barely recognizable.

“To tell you the truth, I can’t really remember when it hasn’t looked like this,” Sturniolo said. “That’s how long I think it’s been this way.”

Since our viewers wanted answers, we got some for you. We spoke to the USPS spokesperson and she said she drove by the building recently and realized it had not been finished yet.

Originally, it started as emergency work because the front facade was falling, which became a safety hazard.

Then, as is with most construction projects, there were unseen problems beneath the floors and behind the drywall.

“We found wood rot, water intrusion, bad seams that connected to the roof,” said Eva Jackson, Spokesperson with the USPS. “Every time we found a new issue, we had to rebuild the funding project, which is paperwork and analysis that we have to provide to postal headquarters to get funding for the project.”

The post office expressed how important it is to get this project completed.

“We want our facilities to represent the postal service and we don’t want to be an eyesore in our community, so we want to make sure they look good,” said Jackson.

Jackson said the project will start back up in the next 30 days and should be complete 90 days from the start.